Why You Need to Pace Your Travel

You’ve got lots of pent up travel inspiration just waiting to explode into reality as soon as the global pandemic wears out. Nothing can be better than making up for lost time and getting lost in a frenzy of traveling! Right? Well, you may want to think twice about how quickly you unfold your built-up travel plans. In this Psychology of Travel post, you’ll learn 3 key reasons for why you need to pace your travel.

For some, paced travels are synonymous with “slow travel”, the next-gen travel wave meant to help linger and absorb rather than rushing through tourist spots with a checklist mindset. There’s a great book about it called Slow Travel: A Movement by Penny Watson. For our purposes here, we’re not talking about the slow travel movement, but rather how much and how often you should travel after a long period of being unable to travel. Like, I dunno, getting back to traveling after a global pandemic or something.

Activity Pacing in Travel

There’s a term we use in Psychology called “activity pacing”. In short, activity pacing is a process to help people proceed in a step by step manner to prevent over-doing things. It really helps in Health Psychology, where patients are at risk of re-injuring themselves when they do too much activity after a injury or procedure. Just as the name implies, activity pacing helps you pace your activities in an optimal way.

There’s a clear implication here for activity pacing in terms of getting back to traveling after the global pandemic. I don’t know if you’re like me, but I sure have a lot of stored up travel excitement now that the world is re-opening to travel.

Just like the patient getting home after a long hospital stay that wants to jump right back into daily activities, so is the person that gets back to traveling after a long absence. You may want to do too much too quickly, and it can put you at risk for problems.

Pace your Travel Activities

This one probably seems a bit counterintuitive at first. Why would I want to pace my travel activities? The travel industry knows that even by definition, travel is temporary.

Very few people live in resort hotels. It’s a place to visit temporarily and then off to the next destination. Besides the exorbitant cost, living in a resort hotel is not practical for most people because the very awe-inspiring elements that captivated your attention can lose their luster as the novelty fades.

The initial exploration and cultural growth are replaced by sameness and cultural saturation. As my kids have said, going down the slide for the hundredth time doesn’t feel all that exciting, however that first few times whooshing down the slide was a new and exhilarating experience. After loving the first few slides down, they would have bet a million bucks that they’d never get tired of it. Same can be true for travel, as exhilarating as it is, so pace your travel interest.

One way to do this is by setting separate trips for similar “types” of destinations. For example, you may tire of island hopping by the 10th island, but setting up multiple trips over time to 10 different islands can allow a refreshed sense of newness.

Another approach would be to stagger different “types” of travel goals (e.g., traveling to history-rich destinations versus pure relaxation versus exploration and cultural immersion).

Finally, you can pace the “types” of seasonal travel (e.g., rather than taking lots of summertime trips crammed into one summer, take a trip for each of the seasons).

Pace your Travel Budget

What problems? For starters, you may overextend your budget for your first trip in the post-covid world. The tendency to think you can afford more because you haven’t been traveling recently is tempting, isn’t it? It may be true, but not necessarily, so you need to think it through.

The key here is plan ahead. Add some flexibility in your budget for extra souvenirs or excursions you might impulsively make on the spot. After all, you’ve missed this travel stuff and it would be expected to get a little loose with your budget.

You don’t want to stretch your budget too thin in terms of your travel destination either. Can you find a cheaper method to get there? Is a 4-star hotel rating good enough or do you really have to go to the 5-star resort?

Keep in mind that you may still have a travel itch upon your return, so having those extra bucks in the bank will serve you well for your next trip. I know, I know, I can hear you already thinking “I’ll worry about budgeting for the next trip some other time, I really can’t wait to get out and travel again right now!” This is the essence of pacing yourself, careful to view things from the big picture vantage point and not just immediate gratification.

Pace Your Travel Expectations

Pace your expectations of travel as some parts of the travel experience will have changed. See this post on how travel will be different following the global pandemic (good for some perspective, as it was written near the very onset of Covid-19!).

Unshockingly, you’re not alone in your desire to return to your traveling lifestyle, particularly following a global pandemic. The travel market looks to be flooded, which can be good or bad. There may be some amazing travel deals out there, but make sure you’re okay being right alongside the throngs of travel-minded people who (like you!) couldn’t wait to get back to traveling.

If you’re a fan of personal space and serenity, overflowing airports and crammed hostels may make this a bit tricky. If you pace yourself, you might find that the initial flood of travelers evens out a bit over time, making your travel experience a (slightly!) more spacious one.

At the very least, go into your initial travel forays with a firm understanding of your own travel expectations, and how this can influence your satisfaction along the way.

Keep an eye on the big picture of your current future travel plans. This will help you pace your travel activities, budget, and expectations.

For more, sign up for the free Psychology of Travel Newsletter, and comment below with other tips for your fellow travelers! Also, check out the Psychology of Travel ebook!

Happy Travels,

Dr. L
Founder, PsychologyofTravel.com

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